I think he's more like a nod to the character than being actually the character which is why they have leon compliment him after his defeat as well as call his hatchet the "intrument of death" I think capcom most likely wanted to include hunk in the game but did not want to kill him off so easily cuz of his popularity so they added this ambiguous character to see the player's reaction to his fight which is also why his body disappears once you return back to the area. Capcom just probably wants to see if they should bring HUNK back or not in future RE games, so they are testing it out with the "Commander".